After Pablo Torre uncovered a potential scandal involving Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Kawhi Leonard, could there be similar deals made across the NBA, including the New York Knicks and All-Star Jalen Brunson? The two-time All-Star's name was mentioned in a recent interview when Torre reflected on the team-friendly deal he was given. Brunson and the Knicks are championship contenders.
After Brunson agreed to a four-year, $105 million contract in 2022, the Knicks built around the star point guard, leading to a four-year, $156.5 million extension. However, as Torre points out on the Dan Patrick Show, poaching Brunson from the Dallas Mavericks at that price came as a surprise at the time.
“How he arrived at the Knicks, this is where I will have to defer to the reporting I may or may not do on this. Certainly was interesting, right? Like, okay, that's a pretty good deal for the Knicks,” Torre said. “Anyway, I don't want to get ahead of myself in terms of.”
Is this a tease for another bombshell report similar to Kawhi Leonard's?
“It's a bit of a tease. I'm showing a little ankle with you. I always show a little bit more ankle than I should with you. By the way, subscribe, like, and subscribe,” Torre said. “But the thing about how often this happens is a really fascinating question because I would argue that it doesn't happen to this scale and with this level of documentation, which is only enabled because of the collapse of this fraudulent company. The other stuff, look, historically, right?
“I was assuming because I'm maybe dumb, like you would give a stock tip or something, right? Like have someone else be multiple degrees away. You wouldn't do it through a company that has its signage on your building, but that's what our sources say is exactly the thing that happened,” Torre concluded.
Jalen Brunson reveals childhood dream he's chasing with Knicks
Coming off of a run to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks' expectations are high heading into 2025-26, and Jalen Brunson is a big reason why. Heading into the upcoming season, Brunson revealed his childhood goal that he still hasn't achieved, per his Roommates Show podcast.
“All of my goals are basically team-based. That hasn’t changed. So, it’s about obviously winning — wanting to win a championship,” Brunson said. “That hasn’t changed. But I feel like success is subjective to what you want.”
“The main goal is always to win a chip. I don’t think that’s ever really gonna change.”
Jalen Brunson speaks on if his goals have ever changed since he was a kid 🤔
(via @Roommates__Show)
pic.twitter.com/pTuf2ypVia— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 25, 2025
The Knicks are hosting the 76ers in their preseason opener on October 2.
